


Sleepless Folk

by shoelaces



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Accidental overdose, Drug Use, Gen, Hospitals, Vomiting, nothing happens, there is a brief discussion of incest in here but it's just Klaus goading Diego
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 08:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17894975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoelaces/pseuds/shoelaces
Summary: Klaus overdoses for the first time on a grubby couch in the tiny living room he’s just about managing to pay for, with Ben crying next to him on the counter.In which Klaus makes a mistake, Ben tries to help, and Klaus and Diego have a chat.Set several years before episode 1.





	Sleepless Folk

Klaus overdoses for the first time on a grubby couch in the tiny living room he’s just about managing to pay for, with Ben crying next to him on the counter.

 

It’s an accident, it honestly is. It had felt like a normal high at first, maybe a little better than normal, but it’s quickly apparent that something is wrong. He feels very hot and shaky, and there’s a pain in his chest like someone is squeezing on his heart.

 

“You’re too pale,” Ben says, his face creased in concern. “Klaus, you need to call someone.”

 

“Who, Ben?!” Klaus snaps, gripping onto the arm of the couch to try and stay upright. “Who the hell am I supposed to call?” There’s a wave of pain through his body, and he pushes his head into his hands and gasps for a second. “I don’t have  _ anyone _ . It’s just me and you!”

 

“Exactly,” Ben snaps, jumping from the counter he’s sitting on and kneeling in front of Klaus. “It’s just us. You are the  _ only _ person I can talk to. Please don’t leave me, Klaus!”

 

“I don’t know what to do,” Klaus whispers, then throws up violently on the floor.

 

Ben reaches out for him, but his hand passes straight through. Klaus watches his face crumple in despair. 

 

The world is starting to feel very far away. His heart is pounding in his ears and it’s making his head hurt so badly that he just wants to scream for it to stop beating already and let him rest in peace.

 

“Ambulance,” Ben says quietly, which is how he says most things, but there’s more fear and desperation in this one word than Klaus has ever heard in his voice before. “Klaus, call an ambulance.”

 

“Don’t suppose you could get me the phone?” Klaus asks, forcing a chuckle out through his clenched teeth. “I’m finding it rather hard to move.”

 

Ben looks like he wants to slap him, or maybe to wrap his arms around him or stroke his hair. Klaus isn’t really sure what people do when someone they love is sick. His mom would press a hand to his forehead and speak comforting words in a comforting tone that weren’t really comforting at all, because it was all lines of code instead of love, and that shit only ever worked on Diego.

 

He’s not actually sure how he does it, because he is very confused and there are little patches of reality missing in his mind, but the phone is in his hand and he is sitting on the cracked tiled floor of his kitchenette and he can hear the crackling of the line after he dials.

 

Ben hovers right by him, clearly distraught. He’s not really crying properly, just standing there with tears running down his face. Klaus hasn’t seen him this upset since he first appeared, a terrified kid who had died horrifically only to be stuck watching his siblings forge their own lives without him, and fucking hell, why is he thinking about this now when he’s probably dying on his kitchen floor.

 

Even though it feels like that train of thought took forever, it must have only been a few seconds because a woman on the other end of the line is talking, reeling off all the scripts for emergency services like she doesn’t care at all who is on the other end.

 

He asks for an ambulance, and hopes she understands his voice past the sound of his choking.

 

She must, because he’s put through again, and someone else is talking, and it’s all getting a bit much to keep track of. He can’t quite recall who he’s talking to and why.

 

“Tell her you overdosed,” Ben says, his voice urgent. “And tell her the address.”

 

“Please don’t go,” Klaus rasps. “Stay with me.”

 

“Is someone with you, sir?” The woman on the phone asks.

 

Klaus looks at Ben, and Ben’s face darkens with frustration as he shakes his head.

 

“No one’s with me,” Klaus replies.

 

“Okay,” she says, and he hears tapping on the keyboard. “Someone’s on their way. You can stay on the line and-”

 

He hangs up.

 

“Don’t feel well,” he tells Ben, who says nothing but comes to sit at his side.

 

“They’ll be here soon,”

 

“Wish you were alive,” he says. “You could’ve stopped me.”

 

“Could I?” Ben says gently.

 

He considers for a moment. “Nah.”

 

Ben doesn’t reply to that. They sit in the quiet, listening to Let It Be as it plays over the shitty radio in the kitchen. Klaus thinks The Beatles sound better when he’s high.

 

Ben tries to keep him awake, but he’s just barely conscious when the paramedics break his door open to get to him. That’s gonna be a bitch to get repaired, he thinks, and he chokes out a laugh before throwing up again.

 

They put a mask over his face and strap him down to put an IV in him. Then he is out of his horrible little apartment and in an ambulance that is far too bright, and  _ fuck _ , he wants one of his siblings that can still hug or pat or even slap him, just so he can feel something other than completely alone.

 

Ben sticks by him nevertheless, following the paramedics down the hallway. The last thing Klaus sees before he lets the darkness swallow him is his face, tear streaked and frightened, wavering in and out of view.

 

-

 

When he wakes up, Ben is still with him, sitting cross-legged on the windowsill. Klaus wonders through a haze of sleep why he’s not sitting in a chair, before he turns his head a little and sees Diego sitting in the chair next to his bed.

 

His chin is resting on his chest, and his eyes are closed. Klaus guesses from the light in the room that it must be very early morning.

 

He’s not sure how to wake him up, because his limbs all feel like they’ve been weighed down with rocks, so he tries to speak. All that comes out is a sort of pathetic little keening noise, but he supposes Diego is highly trained to react to little noises, because he blinks hard and opens his eyes, his face softening with something that looks like relief as he sees Klaus is awake.

 

They look at each other for a moment, and Klaus feels thousands of different things he needs to say run through his head.

 

“Did you mean to do that?” Diego asks eventually.

 

Klaus tries to reply, but Diego stops him. 

 

“Thumbs up for yes or thumbs down for no,” he says quietly, like he wishes he hadn’t asked.

 

Klaus manages to make a little thumbs down movement, and sees Diego visibly deflate with a little relief.

 

“Okay,” he says. “Okay.”

 

There’s more silence. Klaus hates this.

 

“I, uh, was on duty last night,” Diego says. “One of your neighbours called the police about noise coming from your flat. I got there, and they told me you’d been taken off to the hospital.”

 

Klaus makes a face which he hopes Diego understands to be an apology for that, but also making it clear that it’s not his own fault.

 

“I’ve been here all night,” Diego tells him. “You kinda scared me. You look like shit, by the way.”

 

Klaus wrinkles his nose and coughs. God, his throat hurts. He feels like he’s been run over. 

 

Diego reaches out hesitantly and pats him on the back as he coughs into the crook of his elbow. It’s a nice gesture, but a bit awkward. They haven’t seen each other in so long, and now they don’t really know how to interact anymore.

 

“There’s ice for your throat,” Diego says. “They pumped your stomach and you had a tube thingy in your throat, so I guess it must be sore.”

 

Klaus raises an eyebrow at his phrasing, but then nods at the offer.

 

Diego turns to the bowl of ice chips and carefully spoons some into Klaus’s mouth. It would be embarrassing if the ice wasn’t so soothing. His brother keeps a hand on his back, helping him sit up as he practically feeds him.

 

It’s soothing enough that he finds he can speak just a little.

 

“Thanks,” he croaks. “Ouch.”

 

“It’s no problem,” Diego tells him, looking a little uncomfortable.

 

“Couldn’t be bothered before you overdosed though,” Ben says flatly, stretching out in the windowsill like a cat. “Only shows up when it’s nearly too fucking late.”

 

Klaus gives him a sharp look, because he really does not have the energy for this right now. He just wants to relish in the human contact for a little while.

 

Diego must catch him looking, because he frowns. “Is someone else here?” He seems to have just remembered that Klaus sees the dead.

 

Ben smirks and shrugs.

 

“Ben’s here,” he rasps. “Sitting on the windowsill.”

 

Diego looks over at the windowsill like he’s really hoping that for once he’ll be able to see Ben too. It’s been a long time since they’ve spoken.

 

He’s kind of looking at the wrong spot, his eyes fixed just to the right of Ben’s shoulder. Ben stares back at him, and it’s a weirdly sad moment. Klaus is fully aware how shit Ben’s situation is. God knows he’d be the last person anyone dead would want to get stuck with, and he’s been the only human interaction Ben has had in years.

 

“Um, tell him I said hi,” Diego says eventually, like he’d rather change the topic.

 

Klaus snorts, which hurts like a motherfucker, then says “He can hear you, y’know.”

 

“Oh. Obviously,” Diego mutters, embarrassed.

 

“Hi, Diego,” Ben says, rolling his eyes.

 

“He says hi too,” Klaus relays, and Diego smiles a bit.

 

“Was he with you last night?”

 

“Yeah,” Klaus says, looking over at Ben and offering him a small smile. “The whole time.”

 

“That’s good,” Diego replies. “I’m...glad you weren’t by yourself.”

 

“You could have been there,” Ben mutters. Klaus doesn’t relay that.

 

“I know I could have been there,” Diego tells him, and Klaus wonders for a bizarre second if he can somehow hear Ben now too. As nice as that would be for Ben, the selfish part of him knows that this power is the only thing that makes him anything more than worthless. If Diego can do it too, then he may as well have died last night.

 

But he can’t, so it doesn’t matter. 

 

“Look,” Diego says. “I’ve, uh, been kinda shit. At being a brother.”

 

Klaus shrugs. “Everyone has.” His voice is getting hoarse again, and he’s not sure how much longer he can hold a conversation. “It’s not a you thing. It’s a Hargreeves thing.”

 

“No, it’s not,” Diego sighs. “I really am sorry.”

 

Klaus doesn’t feel like replying to that.

 

“I can help you,” he offers. “We can get you clean, and-”

 

“I don’t  _ want _ that,” Klaus snaps. “I don’t want your pity, or you trying to change me, or-” He really can’t be speaking this much right now. His throat is still so raw.

 

“Klaus-”

 

“What makes you think you can waltz back into my life and fix me? It’s been fucking years, Diego!”

 

“Let him help,” Ben says. “He fucked up, but he’s trying to fix it.”

 

“Shut up, Ben!” Klaus snaps, and Diego jumps a little, clearly not expecting Ben’s intervention.

 

“I’m n-not saying that, okay?” Diego sounds a little desperate. “Just that I don’t want to leave you alone- alone again.” Klaus hasn’t heard him stutter like this in a long time. He’d feel bad for upsetting him if he didn’t have so much else to feel bad about.

 

His body hurts so much. He lies back down in the hope that he can ease the pain, squeezing his eyes shut.

 

“Klaus?” Diego asks, and Klaus really fucking wishes he would stop talking. “Are you okay? Should I call the n- should I call the nurse?”   
  


“I’m  _ fine _ ,” Klaus snaps. “Don’t you have a job? Getting shot at, I hear.” He doesn’t say it, but he keeps up with Diego’s job. It’s a dangerous career, and he’s afraid that one day Diego will be haunting him. At least then he wouldn’t disappear out of his life for a decade. And Ben would have someone else to talk to.

 

“Stop it,” Diego says. “I can take time off. Or I could- I could call Vanya. I don’t think she works.”

 

“So now you’re just foisting me off on someone else?”

 

“No, I-”

 

“So Vanya can write another fucking book about me?”

 

Diego makes a face like he can’t find the right words to argue with that. Klaus knows the book is a sore topic for all of them. It’s not easy to run away from all your childhood traumas only for your sister to lay everything out in a book for the world. 

 

“Ouch,” Ben says. 

 

Klaus sighs and turns his face away from Diego. He wants to go back to sleep now. Partly because he’s exhausted, partly because the dreamless sleep the hospital brings is better than this terrible tension. He doesn’t want Diego to be here anymore. It’s not what he thought reuniting with one of his siblings would be like. They’re too awkward with each other, like strangers, except strangers don’t have years of emotional baggage and bitterness they won’t discuss.

 

He wishes he would just go away so he could pretend they had a normal relationship. This is the thought he carries with him as he falls asleep.

 

-

 

Diego drives him home when they eventually discharge him. He’s paid to have his door repaired, which is nice of him, even if it’s about the only way he’s actually helping. Ben is still following him everywhere.

 

He buys him breakfast in a little diner before taking him back to his apartment. They eat waffles and drink coffee and they don’t really talk. The waitress refers to them as partners, and Diego trips over his tongue to correct her, stuttering out poor explanations of their sibling-ness.

 

There are still drugs in his house. Diego holds up a baggie and stares at it with an inscrutable expression. It might be concern, it might be disappointment. It might be that he’s considering arresting him for possession so he can throw him in a prison cell where he’ll stop making trouble.

 

“You gonna call that in?” Klaus asks, dropping back onto his couch. It’s been cleaned, but the air still smells like bleach.

 

“No,” Diego tells him, though he still looks kind of pissed. “I’m not that much of an asshole.”

 

Klaus shrugs.

 

“I’m taking it away though,” he says. “You can’t be trusted.”

 

And he’s pissed off again. “Asshole,” he mutters. “You are  _ obsessed _ with control.”

 

“I’m trying to help you,” Diego says, clearly exasperated. “Look at you. You’re skin and bone.”

 

“Been checking out my body?” Klaus sneers, unsure why he’s going down this route. “Having a quick look? Or not so quick, huh?”

 

“Shut up, Klaus,” Diego says, his tone starting to sound like a warning.

 

“Not denying it,” Klaus comments, lying back in a mock-alluring way.

 

“Stop it,” Ben frowns. “Klaus, really don’t do this.”

 

“Are you some kind of freak?” Diego hisses. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

 

Freak. He doesn’t like that word much. There’s panic rising in his chest, and Diego looks properly pissed at him this time. Even Ben looks irritated.

 

“For fuck’s sake,” Diego spits when he doesn’t respond. “You really are fucked up.”

 

“That’s what I’ve been  _ trying _ to tell you,” Klaus snaps back. “You can’t fix me, Diego. I’ll just drag you down with me.”

 

Diego stares at him for a long moment, then turns on his heel and walks straight out of the door he had just had fixed. He hears the click as it shuts, and listens to the footsteps getting further away.

 

Klaus curls up on the couch, and wonders why he let that happen. Ben sits on the floor by his head. He doesn’t comment, but Klaus knows he’s pissed off. Diego is just another person who he’s chased out of his life so he can self-destruct in peace.

 

He doesn’t see him again for a very very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! 
> 
> i'm on tumblr @deweysdenouement and always up for chatting characters, fic, and headcanons


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